Module IV

RESPONSIBILITIES AND RIGHTS

COLLEGIALITY AND LOYALTY

Collegiality
Collegiality is the tendency to support and cooperate with the colleagues. It is a virtue
essential for the team work to be effective. This consists of various aspects such as:
1. Respect to the ideas and works of others: This results in support and cooperation with
one’s colleagues. One gets back the support and cooperation in return, and this is
mutually beneficial.
2. Commitment to the moral principles: Commitment is towards moral decisions,
actions, goals of the organisation and values of the profession.
3. Connectedness: It means the shared commitment and mutual understanding. It ensures
the absence of egoism and paves for progress for both.
Loyalty
Loyalty is exhibited in two senses, namely,
1. Agency loyalty
It is an obligation to fulfil his/her contractual duties to the employer. The duties are specific
actions one is assigned, and in general cooperation with others in the organisation. It consists
of several obligations to employers, But for the engineers, the paramount obligation is still
“the safety, health and welfare of the public”.
2. Attitude loyalty (or identification loyalty)
It is concerned with the attitudes, emotions, and a sense of personal identity. It includes
willingness to meet moral duties, with attachment, conviction, and trust with employer. The
attitude loyalty is more a virtue than an obligation. This type of loyalty is all right when the
organizations work for productivity or development of community. Working together in
falsification of records or serious harm to the public, does not merit loyalty. Further, with
frequent takeovers or merger resulting in large-scale layoff, employees find it difficult to
maintain attitude-loyalty.
AUTHORITY
Decisions can be taken by a few people, but putting into action requires larger participation
from different groups of people, such as operation, purchase, sales, accounts, maintenance,
finance etc. In effectively-and efficiently-transferring decisions to actions, the authority
comes into play a great role. Otherwise the individual discretions may ruin the activities.
Further the authority fixes the personal responsibility and accountability uniquely on each
person. This is necessary to ensure progress in action.
Institutional Authority
It is the authority exercised within the organization. It is the right given to the employees to
exercise power, to complete the task and force them to achieve their goals. Duties such as
resource allocation, policy dissemination, recommendation, supervision, issue orders
(empower) or directions on subordinates are vested to institutional authority, e.g., Line
Managers and Project Managers have the institutional duty to make sure that the
products/projects are completed successfully. The characteristics features of institutional
authority are that they allocate money and other resources and have liberty in execution.
Expert Authority
On the other hand, the Expert Authority is (a) the possession of special knowledge, skills and
competence to perform a job thoroughly (expertise), (b) the advice on jobs, and (c) is a staff
function. It is also known as ‘authority of leadership’. These experts direct others in effective
manner, e.g., advisers, experts, and consultants are engaged in an organization for a specific
term.
MANAGING CONFLICT
Introduction
Organizational conflict occurs when two or more parties, who have different objectives,
values or attitudes compete for the same resources. Conflicts can arise due to disagreements
between individuals or departments due to their dissimilar focus.
Contrary to popular belief, not all organizational conflicts are detrimental to the effective
functioning of the business or project at hand.
Popular management theorists have recognized the fact that groups tend to storm before
performing, and in one sense, this can be advantageous, as it brings problems out into the
open, addresses the need to resolve such issues satisfactorily, motivates staff to seek
acceptable solutions and each department or person embroiled in the conflict learns to
respect and even benefit from the inherent differences of each other.
However, some conflicts spin out of control. This lower employee morale results in
unacceptable behavioural patterns, reduces productivity and causes an escalation in
differences that makes bridges harder to build.
Identifying actions that aggravate conflict, others that resolve differences and the different
method of coping with conflict are all part of conflict management which are discussed in
detail below.
Managerial actions that aggravate conflicts
Ill-defined expectations, non-consultative changes and feelings of helplessness in the
decision making process tend to aggravate conflict. Poor communication, an authoritative
style of leadership and impromptu planning are at the very heart of these problems.
Ambiguous objectives, inadequate allocation of resources, be it time, money or personnel,
and badly defined process structures heighten such issues even further. Egotistic behavior,
battle between Alpha dogs for supremacy and poor management techniques also play a
pivotal role in aggravating conflicts.
A lack of understanding, an excuse-ridden culture and avoidance of accountability too
increase the detrimental effects of conflicts.
Managerial actions that minimise conflicts
Formulating well-defined job descriptions in a consultative manner, ensuring that any
overlaps are minimized and carrying out periodical reviews to ascertain that such
documentation is accurate, give the employees a sense of control over their own destiny.
This participative approach goes a long way in minimizing conflicts and helps foster better
work ethics.
Formulating cross-departmental teams to solve specific problems, conducting outbound
training, which fosters team spirit, holding regular meeting where feedback on performance
is given and where the challenges faced are addressed and the solutions are discussed are
some of the other relationship building techniques used by progressive organizations.
Different methods of handling conflict
The four most popular methods of handling conflict can be summarized as fight, flight, fake
or fold.
To elaborate further, fighting is where one party tends to dominate another by way of
repetitive arguments, labeling and name-calling.
Flight is where people run away from problems instead of confronting them and turns to
avoidance as a means of handling conflict. Faking, as its name implies, means agreeing to
the solution presented, although in reality, the opposite holds true.
Folding is where an individual is made to agree to a solution by means of browbeating.
However, none of the aforementioned method would yield satisfactory results in the long
term.
Even today, compromise and collaboration go a long way in resolving conflicts in an
optimal manner, as both are win-win situations for the most part, after which, interested
parties can work together to reach a common goal.
Effective dialogue paves the way for conflict resolution. If the disagreements cannot be
resolved by the two parties themselves, then a third party arbitrator or counselor might need
to be consulted for best results.

Skills Required for Conflict Resolution

Communication skills, negotiation skills and the ability to see the whole picture are
necessary skills in conflict management. Listening skills and the ability to find solutions that
do not compromise any party's interest are also worth developing when handling conflict
management.
Steps in conflict management
 Identify the problem.
 Identify the limiting resource or constraint that is generally at the root cause of the
conflict.
 Engage in participatory dialogue and find a range of solutions that will be acceptable
to all the parties concerned.
 See which solutions clash with the organizational objectives and are not in keeping
with the company's culture.
 Eliminate those that do not promote mutual understanding or acceptance.
  Choose the best solution that satisfy most people most of the time and implement
this.
Conclusion
Conflicts are inevitable in one's personal life in organizations or even between nations.
It does have some noteworthy advantages if handled correctly as it brings problems out into
the open and compels interested parties to find solutions that are acceptable to all. However,
conflicts that escalate out of control are detrimental to everybody in the equation, so conflict
management becomes a necessity.
Some basic skills, some knowledge, and having the best interest of the organization at heart,
together with respect for its people, will go a long way in handling conflict admirably.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
It is the bargain by the trade union for improving the economic interests of the worker
members. The process includes negotiation, threatening verbally, and declaration of ‘strike’.
It is impossible to endorse fully the collective bargaining of unions or to condemn. There
exist always conflicting views between the professionalism and unionism.
A. Faithful Agent or Trustee?
Professional societies such as NSPE and IEI refuse to accept the ‘collective coercive action’
of unionism, holding the principles of professional integrity as right, e.g., as per NSPE code
III, i.e., engineers shall not promote their own interest at the expense of the dignity and
integrity of the profession. The engineers are said to exhibit a higher standard than self-
interest; and they are expected to perform an ethical duty to their employer as faithful agent
or trustee. The actions of unions are usually against the interest of the employers and they use
coercion and force against the employers. These actions are interpreted as unprofessional and
disloyal. But in certain cases, the safety of the workers had been ignored for a long period or
the employees were under-paid for years. Can we still hold the action as unethical?
It can be concluded from this discussion, that
(a) The duty of the employee to one’s employer does not mean sacrifice of monetary self-
interests, and
(b) Trustee or faithful agent means executing the assigned tasks and safeguarding property.
It does not nullify the right to negotiate for safe and hygienic working conditions, and
economic benefits collectively.
(c) The codes insists that the paramount obligation is to the society, as compared to the
employers. The duty to the employers is also limited by considerations such as workers
safety, and the right to disobey illegal or unethical activities. After all the employees are
also parts of the society, and
(d) Can collective and coercive action be restored, when all other efforts have failed?
B Service to the public?
The service to the public is of foremost importance. But the unions promote the interests of a
few members only. The public welfare should not suffer because of their actions. Imagine a
situation when all the teachers, medical practitioners and ambulance drivers go on strike. Will
this not cause damage to the public safety and health?
Collective bargaining by engineers through union or association or forums may act within
limits set by the concern for the public welfare. Professional societies can play a great role in
 the promotion and establishment of principles and practices towards fair employment and
exploitation. But they can cot function as collective bargaining agents.
The collective bargaining cannot be judged as unethical, unless we study the cases
individually and decide. The collective bargaining is acceptable per se, but the means should
be constructive, persuasive, firm based on mutual understanding, and not destructive,
disruptive and not harming the persons or property.
C. Assessment on Unionism
The moral assessment on Unions is a complex process. A careful consideration of all relevant
moral facts are to be inquired into and judged. It cannot be generalised, because of the
divergent views on unionism, as shown in Table 4.1.
Table. 4.1 Pro- and anti-views on unionism
For unionism Against unionism
1. Unions have been useful in improving the 1. Unions have lead to disturb the economy of
standard of living and economic benefits of state by salaries, and increase salaries and
the workers. Even non-union members leading expenses, leading to inflationary conditions.
to inflationary condition are able to get those
benefits
2. Unions have obtained greater participation in 2. Instead of being cooperative, they act in
organization, by participative management. negative and destructive ways, causing loss of
Union members are appointed as Directors in man-days. Opinions of the individual worker is
the Board and credited to act as bridge suppressed and used as pawns.
between the employers and employees.
3. Unions have contributed to the job security, 3. Unions encourage mediocrity, and act in
and protection against arbitrary treatment to favour of seniority-based promotion. Merit-
the employees. based promotion and awards for personal
achievement are disregarded
4. They are able to put resistance to unethical
orders and support to ethical actions 4. Unions thrive on prolonged unrest, dissatisfied,
and tense relations between workers and
5. They have provided for effective grievance management.
redressal mechanism for employees.
5. They cause pigeon-holing of employee in
6. They act to safeguard against the possible narrow job classifications to which the salary
political interference, exploitation, and scales are attached.
alienation in the company affairs.

CONFIDENTIALITY
Confidentiality means keeping the information on the employer and clients, as secrets. It is
one of the important aspects of team work.
Justification for Confidentiality
Confidentiality can be justified by various ethical theories. According to Rights-based theory,
rights of the stakeholders, right to the intellectual property of the company are protected by
this practice. Based on Duty theory, employees and employers have duty to keep up mutual
 trust. The Utilitarian theory holds good, only when confidentiality produce most good to most
people. Act utilitarian theory focuses on each situation, when the employer decides on some
matters as confidential.
Further, the following moral principles also justify the concept of ‘confidentiality’:
1. Respect for Autonomy
It means respecting the freedom and self-determination of individuals and organizations to
identify their legitimate control over the personal information of themselves. In the absence
of this, they cannot keep their privacy and protect their self-interest.
2. Respect for promises
This means giving respect for the promises made between the employers and employees.
Employees should not disclose the promises given to the employers. This information may
be considered as sensitive by the employer. But promises do not establish complete
obligations
3. Trustworthiness
Maintaining confidentiality by lawyers accountants and attorneys are necessary to develop
confidence and welfare of the individuals and the organisations. It does not mean however
that these professional collude with them unethically.
4. Respect for public welfare
This moral consideration is important in identifying relationships in professional transactions,
for the benefit of public welfare, eg., if the medical practitioners keep confidentiality on the
problems of patients, patients develop confidence and trust in them, they feel free to reveal
their problems and personal information, without being shy. This is likely to increase their
chances of being cured. Similarly, a company keeping confidentiality about its products gets
economic benefits of competitiveness. Besides, the public are also benefited from a healthy
competition. An attorney keeping the data on clients confidential, provide safety and welfare
of the clients as well as the public.
Types of confidential information
On the basis of acquisition (possession), the confidential information are divided into two
types, as follows:
1. Privileged information
It is information that is available and accessed by virtue of a privilege, i,e., privilege of being
employed on that assignment. The security check is also insisted during exit from the work
place against the leakage of this type of information. An engineer working on defence project
may know that the missile he has developed is to be tested against the terrorists across the
border.
2. Proprietary information
It is the information owned by the organisation. It refers to the knowledge and procedures
established by and in the organisation. Some internal communication in an organisation is
marked as ‘proprietary’. It is protected legally by the organisation from use by others,
including the employees. The trade secret is proprietary information by common law, which
prevents employees from disclosing it to outsiders. The quality manual is another example for
proprietary information
On the basis of severity of risk from breach, the confidential information is divided as:
1. Obvious information: It refers to data, information, and test results on the products yet to be
released, or designs, formulae, and technical processes of the products. The risk or loss from
the breach is large and may threaten the survival.
2. Information of lesser confidentiality: this relates the business information such as the number
of employees working on projects, the identity of vendors or suppliers, customers, marketing
strategies, yield of manufacture, cost of manufacture, substitution of materials etc. The risk or
loss involved is relatively less. In competitive business situations, this information also plays
a vital role.
More on Confidentiality
A. Is Switching Job Ethical?
When persons change jobs (employers), what happens to their moral obligation? The
obligation to protect the information does not cease, when one shifts to another employee.
Otherwise, the former employee will reveal this information to the new employer or sell it to
a competitor of the former employer. The integrity of the employee, even upon switching the
employer demands that he maintains confidentiality and does not to divulge the information.
The professional integrity of engineers is more valuable than the loyalty to the current
employer. Many engineers value professional advancement than long-term tie and loyalty to
a single employer. The engineers involved in research and development and expert
contribution change jobs. Normally they are familiar with the innovative developments in the
parent organizations. For example, one manufacturing expert along with his colleagues as
well as with some secret documents left General Motors and joined Volkswagen. This
violation of trade secret, lead the V W to pay huge compensation to GM in cash and
compulsion to buy parts from GM for seven subsequent years. Employees, who change jobs,
will not able to withhold their knowledge and expertise. They are sought after only for their
expertise. They may not carry the papers and but their active brain always carry memories.
Although some organizations hold that this is unethical, the individuals can not be prevented
from divulging the facts to benefit the current employer. The courts have held a moral
verdict. Even though the previous employers had the right to maintain their trade secrets
confidential, the personal rights of the employees, who switched job in pursuit of career
advancement, had to be honored and balanced.
B. Management Policies
How can we protect the rights of the employers and at the same time recognize the genuine
personal rights and other rights of the engineers/employees? Some of the management
practices and their limitations are discussed hereunder: 1. One way is to restrict the future
employment of employees, by using employment contracts at the time of their exit. Details
such as the restriction on geographical location, time gap between the departure from one
place and engagement with the other employer, and on the type of jobs that one can perform
with future employer, are entered in to contracts. But such contracts have not been given
legal sanction. 2. An incentive instead of threatening their rights by the employment contract,
may offer some positive benefits in exchange for the restrictions listed. A lump sum post-
employment payment or compensation over a specific period may offered as incentive to
restrict him. 3. Another approach by the management is to effect tighter controls on internal
information flow on trade secrets and other vital features. But this is likely to create a mutual
distrust in the organization and to throttle the creativity of engineers involved in the research
 and development. A better understanding between the ethical management and the
professional responsibility of the engineers will fulfill both professional concerns and
employee loyalty.
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
A conflict of interest occurs when the employee has more than one interest. A professional
conflict of interest is the situation where the professional has an interest that, if pursued,
might prevent him from meeting his obligations to his employers or clients, e,g., an electrical
engineer working in the state electricity board may have a financial interest in a company
which supplies electrical instruments, a clear case of conflict of interest exists.
A ‘conflict of interest; is different from ‘conflicting interest’. A student has to clear four
arrears subjects in the supplementary examination. But he finds that the time available is
sufficient to study only three subjects. This is a situation of conflicting interests, where he has
two or more desires that cannot be fulfilled under the given circumstances. But there is a
possibly of pursuing all the conflicting interests, thereby inviting a moral problem.
Types of conflicts of interest
Several types of conflicts of interests exist depending on the ways and severity of outside
interests. A few common types are discussed here.
1. Actual conflict of interest
This refers to the situation where the objectivity is lost in decision making, and the inability
to discharge the duty to the employer. It is the result of weaker judgement and service. A civil
engineer working in the public works department has a financial interest in a contracting
company, which has submitted a bid for the construction of a bridge. There may be a variety
of outside interests. But the conflict arises when the outside interest influences or threatens
the professional judgement in serving the employer or clients.
2. Apparent conflict of interest
This is explained in the following example. An engineer is paid based on a percent of the cost
of the design and there is no incentive for him to cut the costs. In this situation, it appears that
the engineer makes the design more expensive in order to get larger commission for him.
This situation leads to doubting the engineer’s interest and ability for professional judgement.
3. Potential conflict of interest
There are situations where the interest of an employee extends beyond the current employer
and into the interest on one’s spouse, relative or friend. The interest changes into intimacy
and subsequent non moral judgements against the interest of the employer and in favour of
the outsider or even a potential competitor.
(a) Favourable contact
When an engineer’s spouse is working for a contractor or vendor, a conflict does not arise.
But if the engineer is to give a subcontract to the contractor or purchase order to the
supplier, the conflict arises. This happens even when the engineer has partial or substantial
stockholding in the business of that contractor or supplier.
(b) Bribe and Gift The conflict arises when accepting large gifts from the suppliers. Bribe is
different from a gift. The following table shows a comparison of the nature of bribe and
gift.
 Tests Bribe Gift
1. Timing Given before Given after
2. Cost of item Large amount Small amount, articles of
daily use
3. Quality of product Poor Good/High
4. Giver is a friend Yes No
5. Transparency Made in secret Made in open
6. Motive Expect undue favour Expect a favour or thanking
for the favour
7. Consequence on Damaging the goodwill and No damage is involved
organization’s goodwill reputation

Table 4.2 How does bribe differ from gift?

Codes of ethics do not encourage even gifts, but employees have set forth flexible policies.
Government and company policies generally ban gifts more than a nominal value
(>Rs.1000?) An additional thumb rule is that the acceptance of gift should not influence
one’s judgment on merit.
(c) Moonlighting It is a situation when a person is working as employee for two different
companies in the spare time. This is against the right to pursue one’s legitimate self-interest.
It will lead to conflict of interests, if the person works for competitors, suppliers or
customers, while working under an employer. Another effect of moonlighting is that it leaves
the person exhausted and harms the job performance in both places.
(d) Insider Information Another potential conflict of interest is when using ‘inside’
information to establish a business venture or get an advantage for oneself or one’s family or
friends. The information may be either of the parent company or its clients or its business
partners, e.g., engineers might inform the decision on the company’s merger with another
company or acquisition or an innovative strategy adopted. In such cases, their friends get
information on stock holding and decide on trading their stocks to sell or buy quickly, so that
gain more or prevent a loss. For example, in WorldCom USA, the insider information was
used to manipulate and sell a large amount of stock holding by the Director, upon knowing
that the government has declined to admit their product.
OCCUPATIONAL CRIME
An occupational crime may be committed by (1) wrong actions of a person through one’s
lawful employment or (2) crime by an employee to promote ones own or employer’s interest
or (3) theft or pilferage by the employee or (4) damage to the property or an employee of
one’s organisation. These are also called white-collared crimes.
Many of these crimes are examples of conflicts of interest. These are motivated by the greed,
corporate ambition, and misguided loyalty. Even the crime to promote the interests of the
employer, is an occupational crime. Some of the examples of occupational crimes are:
1. Price fixing
Fixing the bidding rate by companies, in collusion with other companies, especially for the
contract/services, is called price fixing. This is an occupational crime, prevalent in electrical
equipments industries, where there used to be a few contractors but large number of
contracts. Because of this, public as well as the government incur huge loss. Two top officers
of Westinghouse and GE, USA who were involved in price fixing without the knowledge of
 their Directors, were sentenced to imprisonment a few years back. These officers held that it
was legal to fix price and even argued that this procedure is really beneficial to the people.
However, the court did accept this view.
2. Industrial Espionage
It means simply spying for personal or company benefits, e.g., in the Silicon Valley area,
there are several company manufacturing computer chips, ICs, and microprocessors. There
are a lot of engineers who are entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The espionage is more
prevalent here because of the following factors:
(a) The development of chips is extremely competitive and on fast track. Profit and loss can be
made quicker.
(b) Manufacture of chips is very costly. Huge saving through reverse engineering could be made
only by breaking open the competitors gadgets or fast tests. Some organisations prefer to
steal the design details through illegal means rather testing and development.
(c) The components involved are very small. Hence pilferage or removal of gadgets could be
done easily and without being caught.
(d) The crime detection and law enforcement are difficult and ineffective.
(e) Employees do not carry out the activities directly, but through engineers who were employees
or through the weakest link in the supplier-producer chain.
3. Bootlegging
Manufacturing, selling or transporting products (liquor and narcotics) that are prohibited by
law, is called bootlegging. In engineering context, it refers to working on projects which are
prohibited or not properly authorised.
4. Endangering lives (Occupational hazards)
Industries who expose their employees to hazards usually escape penalties. Victims have the
right to sue, but only to claim some monetary compensation. The asbestos industries in USA
were responsible for the death of one lakh workers and 27 million workers afflicted with
cancer, in the 80s. Even after 22 years since Bhopal gas tragedy, appropriate compensation
has not been paid. Even the government could not bring to book the culprits for the crime
committed.
Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series, OHAS-18001 Certification has been
adopted in many Indian Industries. As per the Annual report of RIL10, an initiative called
Project CASH, Change Agent for Safety and Health, had been formed to bring about a
positive change and continual improvement in occupational health practices at the work
place, besides attitudinal and behaviour changes. This is claimed to have prevented work-
related diseases, injuries, reduced absenteeism, and ultimately increased the productivity
level.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Human rights are defined as moral entitlements that place obligations on other people to treat
one with dignity and respect. Organisations and engineers are to be familiar with the
minimum provisions under the human rights, so that the engineers and organizations for a
firm base for understanding and productivity. Provisions under ‘human rights’ are as follows:
1. Right to pursue legitimate personal interest
2. Right to make a living
3. Right to privacy
4. Right to property
 5. Right of non-discrimination
6. No sexual harassment
Under professional rights, the following provisions are protected:
1. Right to form and express professional judgment: It is also called the right of professional
conscience. In pursuing professional responsibilities, this empowers one to form and exercise
the professional judgment. Both technical and moral judgments are included. This right is
bound by the responsibilities to employers and colleagues.
2. Right to refuse to participate in unethical activities: It is also called the right of conscientious
refusal. It is the right to refuse to engage in unethical actions and to refuse to do so solely
because one views that as unethical. The employer can not force or threaten the employee to
do something that is considered by that employee as unethical or unacceptable. For example,
unethical and illegal activities that can be refused are: falsifying data, forging documents,
altering test results, lying, giving or taking bribe etc. There may be situations, when there is a
disagreement or no shared agreement among reasonable people over whether an act is
unethical. Medical practitioners have a right not to participate in abortions. Similarly, the
engineers must have a right to refuse assignments that violate their personal conscience, such
as when there exists a threat to human life or moral disagreement among reasonable people.
3. Right to fair recognition and to receive remuneration for professional services: Engineers
have a right to professional recognition for their work and achievements. This includes fair
monetary and non-monetary forms of recognition. It is related to morality as well as self-
interest. They motivate them to concentrate their energy on jobs and to update their
knowledge and skills through continuing education. This will prevent the engineers from
diversion such as moonlighting or bother on money matters. Many times, the engineers who
have laboured to get patents on the organizations are not adequately remunerated. Based on
the resources of the organization and the bargaining power of the engineers, the reasonable
salary or remuneration for patent discovery can be worked out.
4. Right to warn the public about dangers: It should be done without damaging the reputation of
the employer. The views can be expressed through the professional society to get a backing.
5. Right to talk publicly about the job: This should be done within the limits of decency,
confidentiality and loyalty.
6. Right to engage in the activities of professional societies: Attending membership campaign
and seminars are typical activities to promote the professional society.

The basic rights of engineers include the right to live freely and pursue their legitimate
interests as any human being, along with the right to be against racial or sexual
discrimination, receiving one’s salary according to the work, choosing of political activities,
etc., as other employees. Besides all of them, engineers have some special rights as
professionals.
PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS
The rights that engineers have as professionals are called Professional Rights. These
professional rights include −

 The basic right of professional conscience.

 The right of conscientious refusal.
 The right of professional recognition.
Right of Professional Conscience
This is a basic right which explains that the decisions taken while carrying on with the duty,
where they are taken in moral and ethical manner, cannot be opposed. The right of
professional conscience is the moral right to exercise professional judgement in pursuing
professional responsibilities. It requires autonomous moral judgement in trying to uncover
the most morally reasonable courses of action, and the correct courses of action are not
always obvious.
There are two general ways to justify the basic right of professional conscience.
 The exercise of moral reflection and conscience that justifies professional duties is
necessary, with respect to that duty.
 The general duties to respect persons and rule-utilitarianism would accent the public
good of allowing engineers to pursue their professional duties.
Right of Conscientious Refusal
The right of conscientious refusal is the right to refuse to engage in unethical behavior. This
can be done solely because it feels unethical to the doer. This action might bring conflicts
within the authority-based relationships.
The two main situations to be considered here are −
 When it is already stated that certain act is unethical in a widely shared agreement
among all the employees.
 When there occurs disagreement among considerable number of people whether the
act is unethical.
Hence it is understood that engineers and other professionals have a moral right to refuse the
unethical acts such as bribery, forging documents, altering test results, lying, padding
payrolls or coercing employees into acting by threatening, etc.
Right to Recognition
An engineer has a right to the recognition of one’s work and accomplishments. An engineer
also has right to speak about the work one does by maintaining confidentiality and can
receive external recognition. The right for internal recognition which includes patents,
promotions, raises etc. along with a fair remuneration, are also a part of it.
The fulfillment of right to recognition motivates the employee to be a trustful member of the
organization, which also benefits the employer. This makes the employee morally bound
which enhances the ethical nature to be abide by the professional ethics.

EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

Employee rights are the moral and legal rights that are obtained by the status of being an
employee. The provisions made to the employees under this category are:
1. Professional rights (discussed already)
2. Basic human rights (discussed already)
3. Institutional rights or contractual employee rights. This include the rights to the
institution due to the organisational policies or contracts, right to receive specified
 salary and annual increments and profit sharing. The quantum of such benefits, scale
of pay etc, are fixed and reviewed periodically by the employers and employees.
4. Non-contractual employee rights: These are the rights provided in common, besides
the contractual ones. They include:
I Right to privacy
It is the right to control the access and use of information about oneself. This right is
limited in certain situations by employers’ rights. But who among the employers can
access the personal information is again restricted. Only duty authorised persons can
get the personal information.
For example,
(a) The pay bill section can access the information on insurance premium paid, medical
reimbursement etc. But one’s immediate boss need not get this data.
(b) Persons who have applied for the jobs of cashier are required to report if there are any
criminal or civil cases pending against them. Those persons may mishandle the
money. Hence, that information may be ought from them.
(c) A supervisor might suspect a worker and conduct a search in his cupboard when the
worker is absent. But the supervisor is to have another officer as witness in such
cases. Otherwise the supervisor may plant-in some evidences against the worker.
(d) Upon frequent pilferage reported from the stores, the company may install
surveillance cameras or bugging devices to monitor personal conversations, without
notifying the employees. Prior notice to the employees on the intentions of such a step
along with the proposed date of implementation should have been communicated to
all concerned.
II Right to choose outside activities
This is also interpreted as a right to personal privacy as that means a right to have a private
life outside the job. There are some situations when this right can be curbed. For example,
1. When those activities lead to violation or found detrimental to the duties of their job.
2. When the activities of the employees form a conflict or interest (e.g., when moonlighting).
3. When the interest of the employer is getting damaged (if the employee transfers some vital
information on plans or strategies to the competitor).
III Right to Due Process from Employer
It is the right to fair process or procedures in firing, demotion and in taking any disciplinary
actions against the employees. Written explanation should be initially obtained from the
charged employee and the orders are given in writing, with clearly-stated reasons. Simple
appeal procedures should be framed and made available to all those affected. Fairness here is
specified in terms of the process rather than the outcomes.
IV Right to Equal Opportunity—Non-discrimination
Discrimination because of caste, sex, religion, creed, and language are regressive actions.
Discrimination which means a morally unjust treatment of people in the workplace is
damaging to the human dignity. For example, (a) A senior manager post is vacant. There is
competent and proven candidate from outside the state. A local engineer with lesser
competence is promoted. (b) Prize amounts for the winners in the world sport events are not
the same for men and women.
V Right to Equal Opportunity—Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
 The sexual harassment is a display of arrogance and misuse of power through sexual means.
It is against the moral autonomy i.e., freedom to decide on one’s own body. It is also an
assault on one’s human dignity and trust.
Sexual harassment may be defined as the unwanted compulsion or attack on sexual
requirements (gratification) in the context of unequal power. It includes physical as well as
psychological attack or coercion and indecent gestures by men shown on women or by
women on men. Two such forms of harassment are found to exist. In one type called
‘exchange of favors’, senior officers demand sexual favor as a condition for giving a job, or
granting a promotion or increment. It may be either in the form of a physical or verbal threat
or sexual offer. In another type called ‘hostile work environment’, it is the sexually-oriented
work environment that threatens the employee’s right to equal opportunity. Undesirable
sexual proposals, advances, lewd remarks, mailing obscene photographs are some of the
typical examples of this type of harassment.
A rights ethicist interprets this as a serious violation of human right to pursue one’s job free
from extraneous force, compulsion, punishment or threat or insult. A duty ethicist would call
it as a blatant violation of duty to treat human being with dignity and individual freedom, and
not to treat as inanimate object for immoral gratifications. The utilitarian would expose the
effect on the happiness and the welfare of the victims, especially of women.
VI Right to Equal Opportunity—Affirmative Action or Preferential Treatment
It means giving a preference or advantage to a person of a group that was denied equal
treatment in the past. Such treatments are given especially to women and minorities all over
the world. It is also called ‘reverse preferential treatment’, because it reverses the historical
preferences.
There are arguments in favour of as well as against such treatments, all over the world.
Table 4.3 presents a comparison of these views.

Table 4.3 Pro- and against preferential treatments

In favour of preferential treatment Against reverse preferential treatment
1. Compensatory justice: Violations of 1. It violates the rights to equal
rights in the past must be opportunity for majority, to
compensated. Usually this treatment compete on merits.
is extended to all in the group rather 2. Compensation may be given only to
than individuals. specific individuals and not for all.
2. Racial and sexual violation and 3. Provide special funding and
violence still exist today. To education for the disadvantaged.
counterbalance this, the reverse But jobs should not be used as a
preferential treatment is necessary compensatory tool.
to ensure equal opportunity to 4. Reduces the productivity, as the
minorities and women. merit is the casualty. Self-doubts
3. It has produced desirable and indecision affect others morale
consequences. It has raised the and efficiency
social and economic status and
provided them role models and have
promoted self-esteem.
A compromising stand is to permit reverse preferential treatment within organisations, where
the bias against women and minorities existed. Alternatively, the weak form of reverse
treatment instead of the strong form, may be accepted.
For example, in India the admissions and employment in government organisations and all
educational institutions are given on the preferential (community quota) basis, namely
scheduled, backward and most backward castes etc. The article 15(5) of the constitution
effective from January 20, 2006, provides for the advancement of socially and educationally
backward classes of citizens in matters of admission- including reservation of seats. The
reservation in state-run educational institutions including IITs and IIMs is planned to be fixed
at 22.5% for scheduled castes and tribes and 27% for the other backward classes, from June
2007 onwards. This is being suggested for implementation in the private organisations also.
But the Indian private sector and multinational organisations and industries prefer to follow
the system of affirmative action where the deprived are raised to required levels of
competence.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Intellectual property
It is the information and original expression that derives its original value from creative ideas,
and is with a commercial value. IP permits people to have fully independent ownership for
their innovations and creativity, like that of own physical property. This encourages the IP
owners towards innovation and benefit to the society. It is an asset that can be bought or
sold, licensed, and exchanged. It is intangible i.e., it cannot be identified by specific
parameters.11
The agreements with World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Trade-Related aspects of
Intellectual Property System (TRIPS) have been adopted effective from January 2005.
Besides the minimum standards set for protection of IP rights, appropriate laws framed by the
member countries are expected to reduce distortions and barriers for and promote the
international trade. The global IPR system strengthens protection, increases the incentives for
innovation, and raises returns on international technology transfer. However, it could raise
the costs of acquiring new technology and products, shifting the global terms of trade in favor
of technology producers.
Need for Protection of IP
IP plays an essential role to stabilize and develop the economy of a nation. This protection
actually stimulates creativity, research, and innovation by ensuring freedom to individuals
and organizations to benefit from their creative intellectual investments. The IP serves many
purposes, namely
(a) it prevents others using it,
(b) prevent using it for financial gain,
(c) prevent plagiarism
(d) fulfill obligation to funding agency. ICICI Bank has advanced loan against IP as security
to Shopper’s Stoppe, New Delhi, and
(e) provides a strategy to generate steady income.
Some of the challenges in the acquisition of IP are:
(a) Shortage of manpower in the industry. Educational institutions can play a vital role in
providing the same.
 (b) High cost of patenting and lengthy procedure. This was being considered by the
Government and a simpler and faster procedure is expected, and
(c) Lack of strong enforcement mechanism.
Types and Norms
The agreements establish norms and conditions for the following instruments of intellectual
properties:
1. Patents
Patent is a contract between the individual (inventor) and the society (all others). Patents
protect legally the specific products from being manufactured or sold by others, without
permission of the patent holder. Patent holder has the legally-protected monopoly power as
one’s own property. The validity is 20 years from the date filing the application for the
patent. It is a territorial right and needs registration. The Patent (Amendment) Act 2002
guarantees such provisions.
Patent is given to a product or a process, provided it is entirely new, involving an inventive
method and suitable for industrial application. While applying for a patent, it is essential to
submit the documents in detail regarding the problem addressed, its solution, extent of
novelty or innovation, typical applications, particulars of the inventor, and the resources
utilized. Inventions are patentable and the discoveries are not.
Some of the salient features of the Patent Act 2002 are listed as follows:
1. Patent outside India: Applications for patents outside India, on inventions on defense
purposes or related to atomic energy are prohibited. For other patents, an inventor should
apply for a patent within India and then seek clearance for filling patents abroad.
2. Licensing: The controller of patents grants the license upon verification and on some terms
and conditions. The controller shall endeavour to secure that the articles manufactured under
the patent shall be available to the public at the lowest price consistent with patentees
deriving a reasonable gain from their patent rights.
3. Negative right: The grant of patent for an invention does not guarantee the merit or any other
commercial value of the invention disclosed. The state which grants the patent does not also
guarantee the validity of the patent granted. If other regulations do not permit, even the patent
holder cannot commence manufacturing. In this context, it is a negative right.
4. First to file rule: India like many other countries follows the system of first to file or first to
register system to determine priority. Accordingly a patent or invention which is filed or
registered first in the patent office will have precedence to the patent or invention, which is
filed later in the date, even if it had been invented earlier.
5. Burden of proof of infringement: Legal rights of patents cannot be enforced automatically. In
any suit for infringement of a patent, the patentee must move the court. The court may direct
the defendant to prove that the process used by him to obtain the product, identical to the
product of the patentee process, is different from the patented process.
Types of patents
(a) Utility Patent
The utility patent is granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process,
machine, manufacture or chemical composition of any manner or any new and useful
improvement thereof. The utility time is 20 years.
(b) Industrial Design Patent
The industrial design patent is an idea or conception regarding features of shape,
configuration, pattern, ornamental with lines or colours applied to any article, two or three
 dimensional, made by any industrial process and is judged by the eye or a product. The
Designs Act 2000 excludes from its purview the functional features of an article and grants
protection only to those which have an aesthetic appeal. For example, the design of a tea cup
must have a hollow receptacle for holding tea and a handle to hold the cup. These are
functional features that cannot be registered. But a fancy shape or ornamentation on it would
be registerable. A table has a flat surface on which other objects can be placed. This is its
functional element. But its shape, colour or the way it is supported by legs or otherwise, are
all elements of design or artistic elements and they are registerable, if unique and novel.
Other examples include the design applied to shoes, T V and textiles.
The design patent has a term of 14 years from the date of filing the application. Designs Act
2000 gives further details on this aspect.
2. Copyright
The copyright is a specific and exclusive right, describing rights given to creators for their
literary and artistic works. This protects literary material, aesthetic material, music, film,
sound recording, broadcasting, software, multimedia, paintings, sculptures, and drawings
including maps, diagrams, engravings or photographs. There is no need for registration and
no need to seek lawyer’s help for settlement. The life of the copyright protection is the life of
the inventor or author plus 50 years.
Copyright gives protection to particular expression and not for the idea. Copyright is effective
in (a) preventing others from copying or reproducing or storing the work, (b) publishing and
selling the copies, (c) performing the work in public, commercially (d) to make film (e) to
make translation of the work, and (f) to make any adaptation of the work. Copying the idea is
called ‘plagiarism’ and it is dealt with separately.
Can software be protected through copyright? Indian copyright Act amended in 1984
included the rights of in a computer program as literary work. Many countries protect
software as a copyright. Some holds the view that copyright is not the right type of protection
for software. They held that the patents and trade secrets are more appropriate forms of
protecting software. While trade secret is the most conventional form of protection of
software, in the recent years, both patents and copyrights are adopted to protect software.
Copyright (Amendment) Act 1999, India ensures fair dealing of broadcasting through the
internet. The concerns of Book industry, Music Industry, Film and Television Industry,
Computer Industry and Database Industry are sufficiently met by this updated Act.
3. Trademark
Trademark is a wide identity of specific good and services, permitting differences to be made
among different trades. It is a territorial right, which needs registration. Registration is valid
initially for 10 years, and renewable. The trademark or service mark may be registered in the
form of a device, a heading, a label, a ticket, a letter, a word or words, a numeral or any
combination of these, logos, designs, sounds, and symbols. Trademark should not be
mistaken for a design, e.g., the shape of a bottle in which a product is marketed, can not be
registered as a trademark. Trademarks Act 1999 made in compliance with TRIPS agreement,
provides further details.
There are three functions of trademark:
1. Just as we are identified by our names, good are identified by their trademarks. For
example, the customer goes to the shop and asks for Lux soap. The word ‘Lux’ is a trade
mark. In other words it shows the origin or source of the goods.
2. The trademark carries with it an inherent indication or impression on the quality of goods,
which indirectly demonstrates that it receives the customer’s satisfaction.
3. The trademark serves as silent sales promoter. Without a trademark, there can be no
advertisement. In other words, it serves as a medium for advertising the goods.
The marks should be distinctive i.e., it should be able to distinguish from one good to the
other. The terms used for trademarks are usually generic, descriptive, and suggestive. Some
of the term which are not distinctly distinguishing the goods or services from others, are
called generic term and are eligible for protection under trademarks. The descriptive term
should clearly indicate or convey the specific purpose, function, physical characteristic and
the end use of the product. Relatively, the suggestive marks do not describe the goods at first
sight, but with an element of imagination or perception the nature of the goods can be
understood. Thus the suggestive marks are distinctive and are protected as trademarks.
Arbitrary marks and fanciful marks are distinctive and hence accepted for registration.
Besides this, there is also a certification mark by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS or ISI)
which guarantees that the holder’s product bearing the mark has met certain standards or
requirements. This adds considerably to the market value and to a great value in the export
trade.
4. Trade Secret
A trade secret is the information which is kept confidential as a secret. This information is not
accessed by any other (competitor) than the owner and this gives a commercial advantage
over the competitors. The trade secrets are not registered but only kept confidential. These are
given limited legal protection, against abuse by the employee or contractor, by keeping
confidentiality and trust.
The trade secrets may be formulae, or methods, or programs or processes or test results or
data collected, analysed and synthesised. These are related to designs, technical processes,
plant facilities, list of suppliers or customers etc. This information should not be disclosed or
used by any other person.